Emerson String Quartet - Mendelssohn: Octet, Op. 20, String Quartet, Op. 80 (2012)

Throughout the Emerson Quartet's cycle of Mendelssohn's string quartets runs a seriousness of purpose suggesting that he was a composer whose achievement in the field of chamber music is greater than is often acknowledged. There can be little doubt of the stature of the last quartet he completed, the F minor, a tragic masterpiece; but the implications were there from his early years, notably in the Octet in E flat major op. 20 of October 1825, written when he was sixteen. He was already a seasoned composer, pouring out music of youthful brilliance under the guidance of his proud teacher, Carl Zelter, and delighting in the family concerts at which much of it was first played; but in the Octet a more original voice begins to be heard.

"The Emerson's sharp ear for textural detail ensures that we hear clearly every felicity of Mendelssohn's scoring, including those characteristic dark shafts of viola colour."